


infants can't be paratroopers

by kingsnow



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Gen, M/M, for the prompt 'kidfic', nixon pov, subtle winnix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-07 19:04:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19475416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingsnow/pseuds/kingsnow
Summary: Nixon finds a baby in the DZ.





	infants can't be paratroopers

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the it's a can of slags, sir July event. I'm not really fond of children so wasn't sure what I was meant to do with this, so it's the best I could come up with!!

Half an hour after landing in Normandy, Lewis Nixon hadn’t managed to find another paratrooper. He had, however, stumbled upon a baby. He knew little of infants or their care, but he supposed that it couldn’t be more than six months old.

He couldn’t help but think of his own son, back stateside. The son he’d never met. He hadn’t been there when the boy was born, but Kathy had sent him a photo. He’d tucked it into his wallet, not knowing what else to do with it. He’d been doing his service to his country, surely the kid would understand someday. In truth, Lew hadn’t thought much about the whole thing… but this baby was here, alone and crying. Part of him filled with rage that anyone would leave this child here so vulnerable, but then, who was he to judge?

He needed a drink, but his flask was empty and he hadn’t been able to scrounge anything up yet.

Lew picked the baby up and held the little thing close to his chest. To his great surprise, the baby stopped crying almost as soon as Lew had it in his arms, despite the steady noise of guns and screams in the background.

After that, how could he put the creature back?

***

Liebgott was the first of the men he linked up with. “You got any ammo?” Liebgott called from across the field, “I’m out.”

“Yeah, sure,” Lew said. He hadn’t used any of his, after all. He was less eager than most to kill Germans, more than satisfied with his maps and compass.

Liebgott was fiddling with his revolver, and it wasn’t until he was a few feet away that he looked up and squinted in the dark, “is that a baby?”

Lew smiled. “Nothing gets past you.”

“You’re not holding it right,” Liebgott said.

“What?”

“You need to support the head.”

Lew must’ve looked blank, because Liebgott rolled his eyes and tried to grab the kid from him. Lew swerved rather than give it up. He’d grown attached in the past few minutes. Liebgott sighed and grabbed Lew’s hand, moving it higher up on the kid’s head.

“What’re you going to with her?”

“Her?”

“She’s in pink.”

“Right. Right. Well,” Nix paused. He hadn’t actually thought about what he’d do with the kid. He hadn’t studied the field manuel as closely as he should’ve -- it had always been easy for him to get by with minimal effort -- and he couldn’t remember anything about what to do when you came upon an abandoned child in a warzone, if such a thing was even in the field manuel. No doubt he’d done the wrong thing. He usually did. Dick would’ve known what to do. “I’m sure we’ll run into somebody who can take her.” A nice french family, or battalion, or something. Solutions usually presented themselves when you let them. “We just need to keep her alive until then.”

Liebgott shrugged, not particularly concerned. “You got that ammo?”

Nix mumbled something in reply, looking at the little thing in his arms, and passed it over.

“Have you seen anyone else?” Liebgott asked.

“No, but we will.”

Sure enough, they did. Nobody was entirely pleased that he had acquired a child, but none told him to get lost either.

**

When they finally met up with Dick, he took the baby before a single word had been spoken. Nix was sure he must’ve looked like a fool with her in his arms, but Dick took to it like a natural. It had only been a few hours, but Nix had already gone soft for the thing. He couldn’t help but smile stupidly as he watched Dick rock the baby. One day, once he met his own son, he’d have to introduce him to Dick.

“Who’s this?” Dick asked, looking into her eyes, and bopping her on the nose.

“Lieutenant Nixon’s bastard,” Gaurnere said, smirking.

“Something I found in the DZ. Picked her up because I didn’t want the Germans to assume she was with us,” Nix did his best to look sheepish, but Dick didn’t seem mad. He just nodded.

“Have you given it anything to eat?”

“No.”

Dick gave him a look, and Nix gave in like he always did. He reached through his pack and produced his k-rations. He pulled out one of those disgusting crackers the army had been claiming were edible and raised an eyebrow.

“You want a baby to eat hard biscuits?”

“She’d choke on anything else.”

“Nix, you need to get to battalion. We all have jobs to do. Take Liebgott, and the kid and find a family to leave her with,” Dick paused, and looked at his watch. “Somewhere out of the way if you can. Things are about to get dangerous here.”

**

“You ever think of that kid?” Nix asks after the war is over. He’s more than a little drunk, leaned against Dick.

“Sometimes,” Dick said after a moment of silence, “you?”

He did, more than he’d like. It was just another thing to feel guilty about.

“I’ve never met my son, you know.”

“I know,” Dick said, his voice soft. He reached out and grabbed his shoulder, giving it a little squeeze. “But you will now. We’ll be home soon.”

“He’s four now, what use has he got for me now?”

“You’re his father.”

Maybe it’s that simple to Dick, but to Nix it doesn’t mean much of anything. He’s sure Kathy’s got a replacement for him lined up by now, someone who could love the kid better than he ever could.

“Hey,” Dick said, softer now, “he’ll know you were here doing your bit, keeping him safe. And besides, he’s got that dog of yours looking after him.”

That made him smile. “God, I miss that dog.”


End file.
